Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This is one of the churches that I'd really like to visit again someday soon. It is impressive not only in its size but also in its design inside and outside. I shall post more photos of this church in my next posts.

Basilica of St. Martin , Bishop of Tours is the largest church in Asia, stands 96 meters long and 45 meters wide. The Augustinian Missionaries started construction in 1756, It was destroyed when Taal volcano erupted in 1754 and it took a century for the church to achieve its present form. San Martin de Tours is the patron of Taal, whose feast is celebrated every November 11. Its façade is baroque and consists of a single mass of stone shaped into rich complex designs. The church, however, is a fusion of styles with arched openings, alternating segmental canopies and arches of assymmetric shapes. The church was made into a basilica on December 8, 1954. It was declared a national shrine on January 16, 1974 by a Presidential Decree No. 375.
(credit: wikipedia)